Brock Netter, Editor
Southern Ohio Sports Authority is presented by OhioHealth.
AKRON — It’s been well over 65 millions years since dinosaurs roamed the Earth.
But you’d be hard-pressed to find a toy store without one.
They’re on many shelves, buried in toy boxes across the world and, apparently, a mainstay within Lynchburg-Clay’s dugout.
Yes, the dugout.
Call it a lucky charm. Call it a quirk. Call it dino-mite.
But whatever you call it, just know that this particular Indominus Rex was with the Mustangs every step of the way during their historic run to the Final 4.
But to understand the story behind how the dinosaur found its way into the dugout of Akron’s Canal Park, you have to go all the way back to its origins, where it hatched inside the house of South Webster baseball coach Ryan McClintic.
Specifically, Christmas Day, 2020.
As McClintic’s twin five-year-old boys, Ace and Jax, opened their gifts from Santa that morning, pure pandemonium ensued after seeing their own dinosaurs.
CREDIT: Provided by the McClintic family
“The dinosaur is massive, about two feet long or so, and it belonged to my kids. We had two of them, though I have no idea what happened to the other one,” McClintic said. “It’s the ‘Indominus Rex’ from the Jurassic World movies and they were obsessed with dinosaurs growing up. But naturally, as kids, they were rough with toys, which explains why one was missing an arm and the other one was missing a hand.”
Ace and Jax enjoyed their dinosaurs for years.
But naturally, other, and probably more expensive, toys started to catch their eyes as the dinosaurs slowly took a backseat.
Early this spring, McClintic was given a simple task from his wife, Amy, to clean out their garage and get rid of some things.
And that’s where the season of the dinosaur began.
He put the one dinosaur he could find in the back of his truck and it sat there until May 14 when McClintic’s Jeeps were set to host the Jackson Ironmen.
Upon opening his truck bed, he grabbed the dino and set it by the dumpster, hoping for it to be thrown away since the trash cans were locked for the night.
After all, it was missing a limb.
But as the Ironmen got off their bus that night, they noticed the prehistoric creature and captured it before entering their dugout.
“I grabbed it off a trash can or dumpster that was right next to the field when we got to South Webster and brought it into the dugout,” Jackson’s Noah Ernst said. “The coaches thought it was funny, so for the rest of the season, we carried it around with us.”
“Our guys saw that Jackson had the dinosaur in their dugout and had propped it up on the Gatorade cooler,” McClintic said. “They were laughing about it, and so were my kids who just happened to be with me that day.”
Jackson won that game by an 8-3 final. Good luck charm? The Ironmen thought so as they carried it with them throughout the rest of the season — until a loss in a Division III district final at Ohio University’s Bob Wren Stadium.
That night, they decided to leave it in the dugout.
The next morning, when the dugouts were cleaned, the dinosaur had found yet another trash can to call home.
However, the trash bag hadn’t been removed by the time the next day’s games were set to start.
It just so happened that Lynchburg-Clay was playing for a district title that night … and entered that same dugout.
“We were warming up and I stepped back into the dugout, happened to look in the trash can and saw it sitting right there,” Lynchburg-Clay’s Christian Flowers said. “So I took it out and everyone seemed to like it. So we kept it and took it along with us.”
That was the best decision Flowers could have made.
The dinosaur still had some magic left as the Mustangs defeated Portsmouth by a 3-2 final to win their first district title since 1997.
It was at that moment when they knew they had to keep the dinosaur throughout the rest of their tournament run — no matter how long it lasted.
It, however, was only part of the Mustangs’ collection throughout the season.
They additionally had an army hat and a spirit stick that they carried all year long. The dinosaur was just the “Battle Brothers'” cherry on top.
“It kind of just stuck with us and, in a way, it just fit,” Lynchburg-Clay’s Braedon West said. “Throughout the season, I think we were all just picking something good from each game that worked and once we got to Athens, we put it all together. It’s hard to explain and probably weird, especially since we didn’t have it all season and just took it randomly out of a trash can. But it worked for us.”
Lynchburg traveled to Marietta College in their next contest, dinosaur in hand, and knocked off Valley, 4-3, in the Sweet 16.
Then, a 5-4 comeback victory in nine innings over St. Clairsville clinched the program’s first-ever regional title.
CREDIT: Levi Hughes/SOSA
“These were all just things we had and it stuck with us since we kept winning. So there was never a reason to take anything away,” Lynchburg-Clay’s Cole Wells said. “It was great to make history and achieve the things we did. And those things were along for the ride.”
Although the season ended in the Final 4 for the Mustangs with a loss to state runner-up St. Paris Graham, the journey that they gave a toy dinosaur, and the magic it provided, is truly one of a kind.
From South Webster, to Jackson, to Athens, to Marietta, and finally, to Akron’s Canal Park, where the state’s best baseball teams gather once a year.
Baseball, it turns out after all, is still a kid’s game.
As for the dinosaur’s whereabouts today?
“Either one of our coaches or teammates have it. We’re going to try and get the school to put it in the trophy showcase right beside the regional plaque,” Flowers said. “It probably won’t happen, but it won’t stop us from trying.”
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